From Supernova Physics to Fusion Energy: The Laser Experiments Changing Science - Dr. Mario Manuel, Ph.D. - General Atomics

Episode notes

Send us Fan Mail What if we could recreate the inside of a star - not in theory, but inside a laboratory on Earth using the world’s most powerful lasers? Dr. Mario Manuel, Ph.D. is a plasma physicist and laser-science researcher at whose work sits at the frontier of fusion energy, laboratory astrophysics, high-energy-density physics, and advanced laser diagnostics. Trained in applied plasma physics and aerospace engineering, Dr. Manuel has spent his career developing new ways to visualize and understand the extreme electromagnetic environments created when ultra-powerful lasers interact with matter. Dr. Manuel's research has spanned some of the most ambitious scientific efforts underway today - from inertial fusion energy and plasma-instability control to recreating supernova-like shock waves in the laboratory and generating ultra-intense gamma-ray and particle beams using petawatt-class lasers. Early in his career, Dr. Manuel helped pioneer advanced proton-radiography techniques capable of imaging invisible electric and magnetic fields inside laser-produced plasmas, work that opened new windows into the turbulent physics that can either enable or destroy fusion reactions.

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